Inflammatory Response After Breeding?

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

So, they attempted to breed my mare two times before I bought her. Of course she lost it between 60 and 90 days one time and the other time she didn’t take and had a pretty serious inflammatory response with swollen legs and a fever the morning after. We again had this problem with our other broodmare (different AI vet, etc) the first time we bred her (although much less severe than my mare). Changed the extender and she was fine the next time she was fine?

As far as I was told that was “uncommon” and to have two mares have that reaction at the same barn was “weird”.

Anyone know what this adverse reaction is?

[Home_Again_Farm]

I have never seen an inflammatory response to breeding that involved “swollen legs and a fever the morning after” in a mare.

Normally, when breeders talk about an inflammatory response to breeding, they are referring to a response within the uterus that can result in excess fluid, sometimes with debris. Treatment with oxytocin and sometimes with lavages is the usual route to address the problem.

My guess is that there was something else going on with the mare that had nothing to do with being bred. A fever after breeding is not a good thing and can definitely negatively effect your results.

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

That’s what I usually would have assumed, the inflammatory response would have been in the uterus. But this was legs and fever, and years apart between the two mares.

Could it have been an allergic reaction?

[Home_Again_Farm]

My guess is that it was not related and purely anecdotal. If it was an allergic response, it is one I have never heard of or seen, and I have bred a lot over the years since 1995. It will be interesting to see what others say.

[tuckawayfarm]

Do you know if the mares were given Settle? It can be given IV or instilled in the uterus. One of the common side effects is elevated temperature. If it was given IV, I suppose an allergic reaction could be more systemic.

However, the fact that these reactions were years apart makes me think it was probably incidental that it occurred post breeding. Some weeds can cause those symptoms.

Good to know ahead of time that your mare has had inflammatory responses so you can plan ahead and treat proactively. You might also want to use fresh cooled instead of frozen.

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

I’m not sure what they were given, l would have to look through vet records.

These are fairly well groomed pastures seeded and cared for regularly by the BO (a vet pathologist and former large animal vet). I’d imagine if it was a weed she would be aware and take care of it and there would be more than just two cases of a systemic-type reaction over the years.

We pretty much always use fresh cooled (or fresh-fresh) and have no plans of using frozen in the near future.

[fire_911medic]

Perhaps a reaction to something used or out of curiosity was it same stallion ? It IS possible but unusual for a made to be allergic to the semen. My suspicion would be some sort of auto immune thing with the made causing her to react like that and abort. I would def be talking at length with a good repro vet. I

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

It wasn’t the same stallion nor was it even from the same stallion station.

I’m wondering, some of these extenders have antibiotics in them like penicillin, could they be allergic to that?

The 2nd mare (still currently pregnant) was bred twice to the same stallion, first time had a bad reaction and second time was fine with a different extender.

[tuckawayfarm]

Yes, mares can have reactions to certain extenders and most stallion owners have had semen evaluated to find out which extenders work best for their stallion.

FWIW, we use INRA and most of the cooled I have purchased has been extended with it. Most mares tolerate it very well, but if your vet suspects it is a reaction to the extender, I would try switching or using fresh unextended if that’s an option.

[Home_Again_Farm]

I highly recommend you ask about this at the Facebook Equine Repro group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/EquineRepro/

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

Thank you everyone

[NorthHillFarm]

A friend of mine had a similar reaction in her mare this year. Maiden mare presented with very swollen legs 1 day post breeding (not sure about fever) and when vet checked her uterus was also very inflamed. She did not settle in foal so my friend decided to try again. Same stallion, different extender and dosed with Banamine pre-breeding and things went better but mare still did not settle.

[yourcolorfuladdictio]

I’m not sure about a swollen uterus, might have been. We did one dose of banimine post breeding with the same stallion and different extender, no swelling, no fever, and we do have a foal.

I might be curious to know if the reaction to a small amount of penicillin absorbed through the uterus in an allergic horse could cause this reaction rather than normal anaphylaxis of an IM dose.